If Arsenal miss out on the Champions League this season for the first time since 1997, they’re set to miss out on millions worth of bonuses.
Last season, the Gunners received a reported £46.7m from UEFA for reaching the final 16 of the Champions League, and the club tends to give this out as bonuses to players. Therefore, if there isn’t a payout from UEFA, the Arsenal players don’t get their bonuses. Although some would argue that, like Chelsea, they shouldn’t be getting huge bonuses unless they actually win a trophy.
Arsenal are currently five points below Liverpool in fourth after losing three out of their last five Premier League fixtures and although it’s looking unlikely that the Gunners will manage to qualify for the Champions League next season, they’ve turned their season around before.
According to the Daily Mail, the Arsenal players could also be forced to take pay cuts, which isn’t good if they’re looking to hang onto stars like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, who are allegedly pushing for higher wages. This would make Arsenal not qualifying for the Champions League even more costly.